It’s probably one of the most important skills that they don’t teach at universities. Or anywhere else. How to design a meeting with impact.

Meetings with impact engage and employ strategic conversations. Strategic conversations are necessary when stakes are high, answers are unclear and the participants are expected to create real insights together—rather than play out prepared scripts—across organizational boundaries.

Many of our meetings’ clients are facing shifts in business models and increasing competitive pressures. The standard meeting or brainstorming sessions won’t cut it. They are not sufficient for dealing with messy, open-ended challenges. They fail to deliver the all-in participation that’s required to wrestle with tough issues. They invite participants to stay and play within their established roles.

Designing strategic conversations is a craft—not a crapshoot. It can catapult a “been there, done that” meeting into a gathering that few will forget. It’s about eradicating as many time-sucking, energy-depleting strategy meetings as possible. And replacing them with inspiring productive strategic conversations. It engages participants not just analytically but creatively and emotionally as well.

Learning Outcomes:

Define how a VUCA World creates boundaries and parameters that meetings with impact must address.

Discuss how adaptive challenges call for adaptive leadership when designing meetings with impact.

Identify the steps needed in the art and science of designing strategic conversations.